DURHAM, N.C. — The second tragedy came a year after the first.
In March 2019, Laura Campbell of Durham and her two sons, Isaac and Jacob, were visiting her parents in Florida from Durham. The five were driving to the beach, and the next thing Campbell knew, she woke up in the hospital. The details were later put together for her.
She was in a car accident, resulting in the death of her mother. Campbell’s femur and knee were shattered. Her intestines torn.
After two weeks in a trauma hospital and six weeks in a rehab facility, she spent three months in a wheelchair. Even when Campbell returned to work after five months of medical leave, she used a walker. Five years later, Campbell isn’t just walking.
She’s running, kicking and sparring because standard physical therapy wasn’t enough. She wanted to prove to her kids - and herself - that she could build herself back better, stronger. On Saturday, the 46-year-old fourth-grade teacher at Southwest Elementary School earned her black belt in taekwondo at Master Chang’s Martial Arts in Raleigh, a feat that seemed impossible to Campbell’s medical team just four years ago.
Her taekwondo tendencies were discouraged anytime she returned to her physical therapist with complaints of knee pain. But she didn’t listen. “My doctors told me, ‘No,’” Campbell said.
“But I heard, ‘Not yet.’” A tragic loss The first tragedy came on Jan. 17, 2018.
It was a snow day. All the Campbells were home. Derek, Laura’s husba.
